Srom  t 0e  feifirarp  of 

(j)rofe00or  TBtfKam  (QttfPer  (J)a;rfon,  ©.©.,  fcfe.©. 

^resenfeo  6e  Qttre.  Qpaxton 

to  t 0e  fetfirarg  of 

Princeton  £0eofogtcaf  ^eminarj 

.  Lin 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


MAY  2  4  2005 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliverOOmaso 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


MERICAN  WHIG  AND  CLIOSOPHIC  SOCIETIES 


OF    THE 


COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


JUNE  24th,  1849. 


By  the  Hon.  JOHN  THOMSON  MASON. 


PRINCETON : 

PUI55TID    BY    JOHN    T.    ROBINSON. 

1850. 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Cliosophic  Society. 

Resolved,  That  a   Committee   be  appointed  to  request  of  J.  Thomson 

Mason,  Esq.,  for  publication,  a  copy  of  the  address  delivered  by  him  before 

the  American  Whig  and  Cliosophic  Societies,  upon  Tuesday,  June  26,  1849. 

By  order  of  the  Society. 

Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  American  Whig  Society. 
Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  return  suitable  thanks  to  the 
Hon.  J.  Thomson  Mason,  for  ihe  able  and  eloquent  address  delivered  by 
him  before  the  Cliosophic  and  American  Whig  Societies,  on  Tuesday,  June 
26,  1840  ;  and  also  to  request  a  copy  for  publication. 

R.  S.  FIELD,  Esq.,      ) 

T.  GEORGE  WALL.  (  Committee. 

JOHN  JOHNS,  Jr.     $ 


ADDRESS. 


But  a  few  years  have  elapsed  since  my  connection  as 
a  student  with  this  institution  ;  yet  when  my  mind  re- 
verts from  the  present  scene  to  the  period  when  I  first 
entered  College,  a  timid  inexperienced  youth,  an  exile 
from  home  and  all  its  joys;  when  I  remember  how  I 
shrank  from  a  participation  in  the  new  scenes  which 
were  about  to  surround  me,  and  from  an  intercourse 
with  my  future  unknown  companions;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  I  am  now  enjoying  the  thrill  of  pleasure 
which  the  memory  of  those  very  scenes  and  those  very 
companions  inspires ; — I  can  hardly  realize  that  the  boy 
whose  happiness  was  to  be  seen  only  in  the  future,  in  a 
restoration  to  the  pleasures  of  his  home,  is  identical  with 
the  man  whose  chief  joys  are  to  be  found  in  the  memory 
of  the  past,  iu  the  recollection  of  college  days,  and  all 
the  delightful  associations  that  cluster  around  that  period 
of  his  life. 

It  will  prove,  my  young  friends,  I  fear,  a  fruitless  under- 
taking, to  attempt  to  impress  your  minds  in  any  adequate 
degree  with  the  true  character  of  the  results  which 
follow  the  transition  from  the  state  of  youth  and  tutelage 
to  that  of  manhood  and  independence.  During  our 
connection  with  college,  we  are  taught  by  others,  and 
can  rely  with  confidence  upon  the  skill  and  wisdom  of 
our  preceptors  in  the  instructions  they  impart.  When 
we  enter  upon  the  world  as  men,  wTe  become  our  own 


teachers,  and  must  depend  upon  ourselves  for  the  course 
we  are  to  pursue.  Indeed,  at  this  period,  self-reliance 
is  regarded  not  only  as  a  duty,  but  also  as  a  privilege, 
and  we  view  with  impatience  and  displeasure  any 
attempt  to  continue  a  system  of  restraint.  Experience 
becomes  the  fountain  from  which  we  draw  our  lessons 
of  wisdom. 

Whatever  may  have  been  our  previous  advantages, 
and  however  assiduously  and  successfully  we  may  have 
employed  them,  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  of  the 
motives  which  influence  mankind  in  their  intercourse 
with  each  other,  the  proper  appreciation  of  human 
character,  must  mainly,  if  not  exclusively,  be  acquired 
by  experience. 

When  the  young  man  commences  life  and  finds 
himself,  for  the  first  time,  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources, amid  the  dangers,  temptations  and  tempests, 
.vhich  all  have  to  encounter  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
if  he  can  realize  that  he  is  supported  by  sound  moral 
and  Christian  principles,  and  that  he  has  acquired  the 
power  of  thought,  of  mental  concentration,  of  drawing 
correct  conclusions  from  ascertained  facts,  he  has 
secured  all  the  benefits,  all  the  assistance,  that  education 
can  bestow  upon  him.  The  soil  is  then  fertilized  and 
tilled,  ready  to  receive  the  seeds  of  experience.  The 
canvass  is  prepared  to  retain  the  touches  from  the  pencil 
of  nature's  great  artist. 

You  are,  my  young  friends,  about  to  take  this  impor- 
tant step ;  about  to  end  your  academic  career,  and  at 
once  to  enter,  as  men  and  citizens,  upon  the  great  drama 
of  human  life ;  and  you  may  regard  yourselves  happy 
indeed,  if  you  are  sensible  of  the  true  and  profound 
nature  of  the  change  which  must  and  will  immediately 
take  place  in  all  your  habits,  pursuits  and  feelings. 


Although  the  very  general  opinion,  that  boyhood  and 
youth  are  almost  the  only  seasons  of  happiness  in  this 
life,  is  erroneous,  yet  there  are  joys  and  pleasures  of  the 
most  exquisite  and  refined  nature,  which  are  peculiar  to 
those  periods,  and  which  we  part  with  forever  when  we 
assume  the  more  dignified  offices  of  manhood.  You 
will  hardly  have  left  this  peaceful  abode  before  you  will 
fully  discover,  that  in  addition  to  the  other  ties  which 
bin  1  you  to  your  Alma  Mater,  you  will  be  attached  to  it 
by  the  recollection,  that  many  a  departed  hope  and  joy 
of  your  youthful  hours  lies  buried  there;  and  as  fond 
parents  revisit  the  tomb  of  their  offspring,  and  bathe  the 
cold  marble  with  their  tears,  so,  my  young  friends,  in 
after  life,  when  disappointment  has  been  experienced, 
when  ambition  has  seduced  you,  when  friends  have 
proved  false,  and  when  even  the  sweet  consolations  of 
hope  are  gone,  your  heart  will  turn  back  to  your  college 
life,  to  the  play  days  of  your  early  years,  to  the  bright- 
visions  and  romantic  dreams  when  life  was  new  and 
hope  was  high,  to  find  a  refuge  for  a  stricken  heart  in 
the  memory  of  bygone  days  and  cherished  companions: 

"To  view  the  fairy  haunts  of  long  lost  hours, 
Blest  with  far  greener  shades,  tar  fresher  flowers." 

These  pleasures  of  your  youth  are  hereafter  to  be  enjoy- 
ed only  in  memory.  The  hour  has  arrived  for  many  to 
take  their  final  leave  of  each  other.  The  ties  which 
have  so  long  encircled  you,  are  perhaps  to  be  severed 
forever.  The  voices  which  have  so  often  enlivened 
these  halls  with  shouts  of  youthful  merriment,  will  be 
heard  no  more.  The  warm,  cordial,  unaffected  grasp  of 
friendship  has  been  felt  for  the  last  time.  Gone,  forever 
gone,  are  the  companions  and  scenes  of  your  college  life. 
It  is  a  lesson  of  religion,  in  the  truth  of  which  we  all 
acquiesce,  that  man's  life  upon  this  earth  is  designed  by 


his  Creator  as  a  mere  state  of  preparation  for  an  existence 
beyond  the  grave :  and  thus,  in  this  elevated  point  of 
view,  it  may  properly  be  said  that  our  course  of  educa- 
tion commences  with  our  birth,  and  ends  only  with  our 
death;  the  acquisition  of  wisdom  being  the  great  object 
of  human  life.  But  the  term  education,  as  we  propose 
to  employ  it  on  the  present  occasion,  is  designed  to  be 
understood  in  its  popular  sense,  and  to  have  reference 
exclusively  to  the  period  of  our  academic  and  collegiate 
course. 

The  great  and  leading  design  of  education,  as  has 
already  been  intimated,  is  but  a  preparation  of  the  mind 
for  the  reception    and  synthesis  of  facts  drawn   from 
reading  and  experience,  out  of  which  stores  of  wisd.un 
are  to  be  accumulated.      Every  youthful   student  re- 
members  the   feelings   of  impatience  with   which    he 
entered  upon  the  study  of  the  dry,  abstruse  principles  of 
a  science  to   which  he  never  in   after    life  expected  to 
refer.     He  could  not  comprehend  why  the  acquisition  of 
what  he  termed  useful  information  was  to  be  postponed 
for  the  theories  of  some  dull  and  useless  art ;  why  he 
should  plod  over  a  conic  section,  or  a  satire  of  Juvenal, 
when  his  time  could  be  so  much   more  profitably  em- 
ployed in  immediate  preparation  for  the  pulpit,  the  bar, 
the  counting  house,  or  whatever  other  pursuit  he  might 
intend  to  follow.     Nor  is  this  error  confined  to  the  youth 
and  the  student.     Parents,  impatient  to  see  the  early 
fruits  of  education  developed  in    their  children,  hurry 
them  on  in  their  studies,  regardless  whether  they  have 
laid  any  enduring  foundation  upon  which  to  rest  their 
future  acquisitions.     As   well   might  the  husbandman 
ask,  Why  am  I   to  spend  my  time  and  exhaust   my 
strength  in  laborious  efforts  to  furrow  the  soil  and  prep  ire 
it  for  the  seed  ?     While  I  am  thus   engaged,  would  not 


the  seed  sown  upon  the  ungenial  surface  be  germinating 
and  maturing  ?  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  popular  errors 
of  the  age,  that  we  are  to  measure  the  fruits  of  a  colle- 
giate  education  by  the  amount  of  crude  facts  which  a 
student  is  able  to  collect  during  his  academic  career. 
No  inquiry  is  made  as  to  what  disposition  the  mind  can 
make  of  these  facts,  after  they  have  been  thus  acquired. 
Is  it  capable  of  analyzing  or  systematizing  them  ?  has  it 
the  power  of  building  intellectual  edifices  out  of  this 
unshapen  material  ?  I  have  known  young  men  to 
graduate  from  this  and  other  institutions,  carrying  with 
them  the  highest  honours  of  their  class,  yet  liable  to  the 
taunts  of  those  who  sneer  at  this  system  of  mental 
discipline,  because,  perhaps,  they  were  ignorant  of  that 
shallow  historical  and  literary  gossip  which  a  month's 
intercourse  with  the  frivolous  circles  of  fashion  would 
enable  any  one  easily  to  attain.  During  our  passage 
through  college  we  observe,  that  while  some  of  our 
associates  are  toiling  over  the  dull  and  severe  studies  of 
their  class,  others  are  devoting  their  time  and  attention 
to  the  pages  of  fascinating  history,  and  the  works  of  light 
literature,  romance  and  poetry.  At  the  end  of  their 
collegiate  course,  the  latter  are  denominated  gentlemen 
of  accomplished  education,  while  the  former  are  re- 
garded as  mere  plodders,  who  have  passed  their  time  in 
unprofitable  labor.  We  do  not  by  any  means  condemn 
the  study  of  history  or  of  lighter  literature  at  proper 
times  and  on  fit  occasions  ;  nor  do  we  contend  that  the 
ends  of  education  have  been  wholly  accomplished  by  a 
thorough  disciplining  of  the  mind.  "  This  ought  you 
to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone."  The 
expressive  language  of  scripture,  a  part  of  which  I  have 
just  cited,  is  as  applicable  to  the  obligations  of  the 
student,   as  it  is  to   those  of  the  Christian.      Severn 


10 

mental  discipline  is  to  the  student  what  "the  law, 
judgment,  mercy  and  faith"  are  to  the  Christian,  while 
we  may  well  class  the  practice  of  cursory  reading  in  the 
one  with  what  "mint,  anise  and  cummin"  are  to  the 
other.  This  system  of  mental  training  in  a  high  degree 
invigorates  the  power  of  concentration,  of  fixing  the 
attention,  which  is  a  noble  faculty  of  the  mind ;  it  excites 
the  power  of  discrimination,  ripens  the  judgment, 
quickens  the  apprehension,  gives  activity  and  acuteness 
to  the  understanding,  while  at  the  same  time  it  brings 
all  its  powers  into  complete  discipline.  Without  this 
solid  foundation,  how  slender  are  all  our  future  super- 
structures ;  without  this  mental  culture,  how  meager 
are  our  future  intellectual  products !  We  may  justly 
compare  the  mind  of  a  youth  thus  well  trained,  to  the 
fertile,  well  prepared  fallow  field,  which  presents  to  the 
eye  of  the  casual  observer  an  unseemly  appearance  of 
barrenness  and  desolation.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
intellect  which  has  been  decked  and  ornamented  by  the 
flowers  of  light  reading,  is  like  the  untilled  field,  which, 
undisturbed  by  the  coulter  and  the  share,  under  the 
influences  of  the  genial  sun  and  refreshing  showers  of 
early  spring,  is  covered  with  verdure  and  adorned  with 
bright  but  short-lived  flowers.  Seed  sown  upon  the  one, 
which  by  culture  has  within  its  bosom  the  elements  of 
fertility  and  life,  germinate,  shoot  and  mature,  and  in 
the  autumnal  season  yield  an  abundant  harvest.  The 
other  soon  surrenders  its  rich  dress  to  the  influences  of 
a  burning;  sun,  and  long:  ere  the  summer  months  have 
passed,  its  early  promise  of  fruit  has  faded.  Seed,  thus 
sown,  "  when  the  sun  is  up  are  scorched,  and  because 
they  had  not  root  they  wither  away."  The  effect  of 
time,  that  great  and  severe  test  of  all  things,  is  the  same 
upon  the  human  mind  ;  and  unless  we  stand  firm  upon 


11 

this  vantage  ground,  the  difficulties  with  which  we 
shall  have  to  contend  in  our  future  intellectual  pursuits 
will  be  incalculable.  Without  this  buckler  we  must  at 
some  time  falter,  if  we  do  not  fall.  How  many  naturally 
brilliant  intellects  have  been  ruined,  through  a  disregard 
of  this  principle  of  education,  and  by  vicious  early 
instruction  !  How  ea>ily  does  this  error  lead  the  young 
mind  into  careless  habits  of  thought,  whioh  cannot  be 
laid  aside,  and  which  utterly  incapacitate  it  forever 
afterwards  for  mental  labour. 

When  the  mind  has  thus  been  brought  into  complete 
subjection,  the  recitation  rooms  and  lecture  halls  have 
performed  their  high  functions.  All  has  been  done  for 
the  youthful  mind  that  parental  solicitude  or  exorbitant 
public  sentiment  could  demand.  At  this  epoch,  your 
destiny  must  be  committed  to  your  own  keeping. 
Unavailing,  however,  indeed  will  the  efforts  of  your 
instructors  prove,  if  you  place  your  main  reliance  for 
success  in  after  life  upon  what  they  have  done  for  you, 
regardless  of  the  obligations  which  society  and  religion 
impose,  to  redouble  your  exertions  to  reach  the  heights 
of  fame  and  usefulness.  The  work  of  endeavouring  to 
attain  human  perfection,  which  should  be  the  great  end 
and  aim  of  man's  existence,  must  be  resumed  by  your- 
selves where  your  preceptors  have  left  off;  and  unaided 
by  their  assiduous  attentions,  wise  counsels,  and  erudite 
instructions,  you  must  go  on  in  this  noble  and  upward 
enterprise. 

The  simile  which  I  have  already  employed  to  illustrate 
my  view  of  the  subject  may  be  carried  still  further.  It 
is  not  enough  that  you  prepare  the  soil  for  the  seed. 
Although  the  most  diligent  and  laborious  efforts  may 
have  been  used  for  that  purpose,  and  although  the  earth 
may  invite  by  its  richness  the  husbandman's  notice,  yet 


12 

all  this  will  be  unavailing  unless  the  seed  be  afterwards 
actually  sown  and  assiduously  cultivated.  It  is  one 
thing  to  train  the  budding  faculties  of  the  mind  for  severe 
exertion,  and  another  to  store  it  with  useful  information. 
For  the  one  we  mainly  depend  upon  tutors  and  schools, 
for  the  other  we  must  rely  exclusively  upon  ourselves. 
Education  in  our  schools  and  colleges  is  but  the  means 
for  -acquiring  knowledge ;  the  information,  which  we 
subsequently  gather,  when  stored  in  a  well  arranged 
mind,  is  knowledge  itself: 

"  He  cannot  be  a  perfect  man, 
Not  being  tried  and  tutor'd  in  the  world. 
E\p?rience  is  by  industry  achieved 
Aud  perfected  by  the  swift  course  of  time." 

While  education  is  thus  expending  its  energies  upon 
the  mind,  another  and  a  more  delicate  and  important 
field  is  opened  for  its  operations,  in  the  moral  and 
religions  culture  of  the  student.  And  here  we  may 
remark  is  a  duty  imposed  upon  education  which  at  once 
involves  all  the  most  sacred  responsibilities  which  attach 
to  the  parent,  the  teacher  and  the  pastor,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  son,  the  student  and  the  Christian,  on  the 
other.  All  the  illustrations,  all  the  figures  which  could 
be  invoked,  for  the  purpose  of  representing  conditions  of 
weakness,  of  helplessness,  of  destitution,  of  insufficiency 
for  accomplishing  any  noble  enterprise,  would  prove 
inadequate  to  give  an  idea  of  the  futility  of  man 
without  morality  and  religion.  A  vessel  at  sea  without 
a  rudder;  a  house  built  upon  the  sand ;  a  tree  without 
a  root;  the  trembling  dew  drop,  glittering  in  the  rays  of 
the  rising  sun ;  the  fleeting  glories  of  the  butterfly,  are 
common- place  but  strong  illustrations;  they  are  too 
feeble,  however,  to  convey  the  idea  of  a  man  "  having  no 
hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world." 

The  first  and  great  field,  then,  of  education  is  the 


13 

heart,  the  second  is  the  mind ;  and  these  are  so  indisso- 
lubly  connected,  that  in  cultivating  the  one,  you  almost 
necessarily  improve  the  other.  Good  moral  training 
strengthens  the  mind,  and  all  truths  in  science,  in 
history,  in  nature  and  experience,when  viewed  in  connec- 
tion with  the  great  Author  from  whom  they  emanate, 
are  eminently  calculated  to  develope  and  to  elevate  the 
religious  and  moral  tendencies  of  our  nature.  An 
opposite  doctrine,  I  am  aware,  has  been  impiously 
advocated.  But  would  it  not  be  deemed  out  of  place  and 
supererogatory  at  this  enlightened  period  of  the  world, 
and  upon  this  hallowed  spot,  so  often  sanctified  by  the 
embrace  of  Science  and  Religion,  to  attempt  an  argument 
against  the  opinion  that  there  is  often  to  be  found  a 
conflict  between  the  doctrines  revealed  in  the  word  of 
God,  and  the  discoveries  of  science?  What  would  be 
thought  of  the  bold  and  reckless  adventurer  against 
truth,  who  would  attempt  at  this  day  to  array  the 
discoveries  of  Copernicus,  or  Newton,  or  La  Place,  or 
Davy,  or  Franklin,  or  Fulton,  or  Morse,  or  Henry,  in  an 
attitude  hostile  to  the  great  truths  of  revelation?  Who 
are  these  men  whose  intellects  have  thrown  such  a  flood 
of  light  upon  subjects  which  hitherto  had  remained  in 
impenetrable  darkness,  and  revealed  to  common  minds 
principles  which  before  were  wrapped  in  mystery? 
They  are  the  creatures  of  Him,  whose  great  and  sublime 
code  of  moral  law  is  said  to  be  shaken  and  often  dis- 
membered by  their  discoveries  and  expositions  of  the 
laws  and  principles  of  that  nature,  which  like  themselves 
emanates  from  the  one  Great  Source  of  power  and 
harmony.  Every  flash  of  their  genius,  every  effort  of 
their  mind,  every  scintillation  of  their  brain,  is  but 
the  pulsation  of  the  Great  Heart  of  Nature,  which  is 
God  himself,  the  mere  result  of  his  will.     And  yet  we 


14 

are  called  upon  to  believe  either  that  the  Bible  is  a 
fiction,  the  work  of  man's  invention  ;  or  the  absurdity 
that  God  has  endowed  certain  created  beings  with 
transcendent  intellects,  as  compared  with  their  fellow- 
men,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  his  own  folly 
and  weakness,  and  that  he  was  capable  of  creating  men 
with  minds  sufficiently  powerful  to  discover  discrepan- 
cies between  revelation  and  the  works  of  nature  which 
He  himself  was  not  wise  enough  to  detect  or  able  to 
remedy. 

Infidelity  may  yet  furnish  some  advocates  of  a  doc- 
trine so  monstrous,  absurd,  and  impious;  but  whoever 
sets  out  with  the  view  of  investigating  truth,  and  calls 
to  his  aid  the  lights  of  revealed  religion  for  that  purpose, 
cannot  fail  to  discover  the  most  harmonious  connection 
between  scriptural  Christianity  and  the  principles  of 
natural  science.  Indeed  one  of  the  most  ennobling  and 
improving  pursuits  that  can  occupy  the  attention  of  an 
intellectual  being  is  that  of  tracing  the  analogy  and 
harmony  between  nature  and  Revelation.  Instead  of 
promoting  infidelity,  nothing  is  so  well  adapted  to  the 
expansion  and  elevation  of  our  moral  and  religious 
faculties.  And  besides  the  religious  improvement  which 
is  wrought  through  the  agency  of  this  exercise,  it  is  a 
study,  when  viewed  as  a  mere  means  of  mental  im- 
provement, as  a  mere  sharpener  of  the  intellect,  which 
has  not,  perhaps  its  equal  in  the  whole  catalogue  of 
sciences.  For  example,  what  a  mental  gymnasium  is 
afforded  by  reading  the  works  of  Augustine,  Chilling- 
worth,  Locke,  Tillotson,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Butler,  Ed- 
wards, and  other  like  towering  spirits.  When  you  have 
done  with  such  a  study,  you  will  not  only  experience  a 
great  moral  and  religious  improvement,  and  find  that 
you  have  been  drawn  nearer  to  your  God,  and  are  already 


15 

in  a  condition  to  taste  and  appreciate  the  joys  which 
only  begin  where  this  life  ends;  but  you  will  find  also 
that  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  many  of  them  hereto- 
fore dormant  or  torpid,  have  been  expanded,  strengthened 
and  drawn  into  full  action.  If  I  might  be  permitted  to 
degrade  this  subject,  by  invoking  for  it  the  base  and 
selfish  motives  of  personal  interest,  I  could  with  truth 
rest  an  argument  in  favour  of  moral  culture  upon  this 
ground  alone.  In  addition  to  the  general  elevation  of 
our  nature,  a  man  finds  a  reward  for  a  moral  and  religious 
life,  in  the  success  which  generally  attends  all  his 
worldly  occupations.  Success  in  life  mostly  depends 
upon  confidence,  and  confidence  is  mainly  the  result  of 
virtue,  probity  and  consistency.  Commanding  talents 
and  profound  learning  can  never  supply  their  place. 
Confidence  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth,  and  of  the  most 
delicate  texture ;  its  tender  fibres  cannot  bear  even  the 
touch  of  slander,  while  under  the  blighting-  influence  of 
suspicion  they  sicken  and  die.  Virtue  is  the  soil  in 
which  it  flourishes.  Vice  itself  respects  virtue.  Those 
who  are  lost  to  moral  influences,  pay  deference  to  men 
who  are  governed  by  them. 

Some  of  the  incidental  advantages  of  a  public  training 
may  with  propriety  be  enumerated  on  the  present 
occasion,  and  considered  in  connection  with  the  two 
great,  main  ends  of  education  which  I  have  feeblj 
attempted  to  elucidate.  One  of  the  most  important 
duties  enjoined  upon  us  as  creatures  of  God,  and  as 
members  of  society,  is  the  cultivation  of  social  intercourse, 
or  of  loving  our  neighbours  as  ourselves ;  and  pre-emi- 
nently opposed  to  this  high  and  sacred  duty  is  the 
ignoble  principle  of  selfishness.  Any  pursuit  or  situa- 
tion in  hfe,  therefore,  which  tends  to  promote  the  one 
and  to  suppress  the  other  ought  to  commend  itself  to  our 


16 

special  approbation.  This  result  is  in  no  way  more 
effectually  accomplished  than  by  the  cultivation  of  noble 
and  generous  friendships;  and  no  season  or  circum- 
stances are  better  adapted  to  this  purpose  than  the 
season  of  our  youth  and  the  circumstances  connected 
with  a  college  life.  Here,  in  early  youth,  before  we  have 
commenced  our  struggles  with  the  world,  or  learned  the 
necessity  of  assiduous  attention  to  our  own  peculiar 
interests,  friendship,  planted  in  such  a  soil  and  fostered 
by  such  a  season,  cannot  but  prosper  and  ripen  into  an 
abiding,  permanent  love,  which  neither  length  of  time 
nor  revolving  circumstances  can  ever  change.  In  after 
life  neither  prosperity  nor  misfortunes,  neither  honour  nor 
obscurity,  neither  age  nor  infirmities,  can  tear  us  from 
the  friendships  which  have  been  here  formed  anc 
matured,  nor  interrupt  the  calm,  smooth  current  of  social 
intercourse  which  springs  from  the  youthful  heart.  As 
the  affectionate  child  cherishes  the  tender  recollection? 
of  its  parents  and  the  early  joys  of  home,  so  do  our 
affections  cluster  around  this  endeared  spot,  and  arounc 
the  memory  of  those  youthful  friends  who  are  so  indis- 
solubly  connected  with  it.  And  as  a  new  asterisk  is 
affixed  to  the  name  of  some  college  companion,  among 
those  that  appear  upon  each  returning  catalogue,  we  fee 
that  another  star  has  fallen  from  the  bright  galaxy  oif 
youthful  friendship,  and  that  each  of  these  returning 
events  but  tends  to  increase  the  gloom  and  desolation 
which  continue  to  thicken  around  us  as  life  advances, 
and  cares  multiply.  Friendship  is  more  than  an  emptj 
name.  It  is  a  feeling  that  certifies  our  divine  nature 
It  is  allied  to  love,  which  is  the  law  of  Heaven ;  and  he. 
who  fosters  the  noble  emotion  is  but  fulfilling  God'}, 
commandment.  It  is  then  a  high  and  sacred  duty  tha 
we  should  endeavour  to  enlarge  the  circle  of  our  friends 


17 


and  to  increase  our  love  for  them.  No  situation  in  life 
is  more  favourable  to  the  attainment  of  both  these  ends, 
than  the  one  to  which  many  of  you  are  about  to  bid  a 
last  farewell.  The  ties  of  friendship  are  generally  strong 
in  proportion  to  the  trials  and  difficulties  under  which 
they  are  formed  ;  and  hence  friendships  originating  here 
are  most  enduring.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  our 
first  entrance  upon  college  life  involves  some  of  the 
severest  and  bitterest  sacrifices  which  we  are  capable  of 
making,  either  then  or  in  after  life;  and  thus  the  affec- 
tions here  formed,  is  "sub  sole,  sub  umbra  virens." 

Again,  we  learn,  by  mingling  with  youthful  com- 
panions, lessons  in  human  nature  of  incalculable  benefit, 
and  which  are  as  enduring  as  life  itself.  The  guileless* 
ness  of  youth,  when  acts  are  not  carefully  guarded  by 
the  keen  eye  of  experience  or  restrained  by  the  dictates 
of  selfishness,  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  development 
of  the  true  springs  of  human  action,  by  which  we  learn 
to  detect  tiie  difference  between  real  and  pretended 
motives,  between  nature  and  affectation.  The  great 
study  of  man  should  be  man  himself;  for,  in  the  study 
rf  human  nature,  we  at  once  find  the  field  in  winch  the 
mind  is  mainly  to  be  employed  in  its  future  wide  and 
liversified  action.  But  while  this  is  an  important  study, 
it  is  also  a  dangerous  one;  for  in  our  efforts  to  become 
familiar  with  human  nature  we  are  often  led  into  a  great 
Hid  disastrous  error,  both  here  and  in  after  life.  JViany 
&  us  suppose  that  the  haunts  of  felly  and  wickedness  are 
;he  only  places  where  the  study  of  human  nature  can 
successfully  be  pursued,  and  that  if  we  can  make  our- 
'.elves  acquainted  with  the  vices  of  men  we  have  learned 
-heir  entire  nature.  In  this  way  we  form  not  only  an 
ncorrect  and  onesided  view  of  the  great  subject  we  are 
investigating,  but  we  become  first  familiar,  then  fascina- 


18 

ted  with  vice,  and  almost  unconsciously  fall  into  habits 
of  wickedness,  and  thus  turn  the  very  study  which 
should  have  been  a  great  instrument  in  our  moral  and 
mental  improvement,  into  the  means  of  accomplishing 
our  ruin.  The  study  of  human  nature  is  made  the 
pretext,  with  some  of  our  boys  and  young  men,  for  their 
visits  to  the  gaming  table,  the  race  field,  the  brothel,  and 
such  other  scenes  of  iniquity.  Here,  they  say,  is  to  be 
seen  man  in  all  his  undisguised  deformities;  here  are  to 
be  discovered  the  sources  and  origin  of  human  motives. 
But  nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  Such 
scenes  are  the  very  hot-beds  of  deceit  and  selfishness; 
and  the  intemperance  and  riots,  which  so  often  attend 
them,  are  but  methodized  systems  of  deception. 

Lessons  of  wisdom  acquired  in  such  schools,  and  from 
such  teachers,  are  purchased  at  a  high  price  and  at  a 
great  risk,  to  say  the  least.  There  are  persons  whc 
suppose  they  are  familiar  with  the  worid  because  they 
know  its  vicious  propensities.  But  this  knowledge 
embraces  but  one  and  that  a  dark  view  of  human 
character;  and  if  we  go  no  further  in  the  investigation 
we  shall  find  that  instead  of  reaping  improvement  from 
the  study,  we  shall  have  sustained  a  positive  injury,  wc 
shall  have  acquired  a  little  learning,  which  will  provt 
a  dangerous  thing. 

An  eminent  philosophic  writer  observes :  "  We 
generally  find  indeed,  that  men  are  governed  by  theii 
weaknesses,  not  their  vices ;  and  those  weaknesses  art 
often  the  most  amiable  part  about  them.  It  is  a  know- 
ledge of  these  weaknesses,  as  if  by  a  glance,  that  serve* 
a  man  better  in  the  understanding  and  conquest  of  his 
species,  than  a  knowledge  of  the  vices  to  which  the} 
lead ;  it  is  better  to  seize  the  one  cause,  than  to  ponde 
over  the  thousand  effects."     It  is  the  former  knowledge 


19 


which  I  chiefly  call  the  knowledge  of  the  world      It  is 
this  peculiar  insight  into  human  character  that  should 
7  °ur  farnef  atte«<i°»-      It  is  tins  weakness  of 
character  which  leads  us  into  every  species  of  excess, 
and  it    as  the  cause,  should  be  studied,  in  order  that 
vice,  which  is  its  effect,  should  be  avoided ;  and  to  com- 
mence with   the  study  of  human  depravity  is  to  begin 
A.s  great  pursuit   where  we  should  have  left  it  off. 
Hence  we  often  find  that  some  of  the  best  delineators  of 
human    character,    the    most  astute  observers    of   the 
motives  of   men,  the    best  analyzers  of  the  heart,  are 
those   who  know  least  by  practical  observation   of  the 
vices  and  depravity  of  their  fellow-men;  while  on  the 
other  hand  those  who  are  most  familiar  with  depraved 
human  nature,  by  actual  participation  in  ,,,  are  generally 
the  most  ignorant  of  the  causes  which  lead  to  such  over- 
whelming and   ruinous  consequences,  of  the  means  of 
avoiding  them,  and  of  themode  of  reclaiming  fallen  man 
from  his  evil  ways.     The  acquisition  of  a  knowledge  of 
human  character  is  the  precious  fruit  of  this  peculiar 
study,   and   a  young   man   has   not  passed  through   a 
collegiate  course  in  vain,  if  he  can  but  realize  that  he 
has  made  material  progress  in  the  study  of  man 

In  future  life,  much,  if  not  the  chief  part'  of  his 
success,  his  happiness  and  his  usefulness,  will  depend 
upon  he  amount  which  he  may  possess  of  this  species  of 
knowledge  By  it  what  mastery  we  possess  over  our 
fellow  men  What  a  pre-eminent  position  we  occupy 
in  a  1  the  relations  of  life !  How  we  triumph  in  all  the 
conflicts  m  which  human  passions  are  involved  !  Bu 
above  al  this,  while  it  enables  us  to  discover  and  guard 
against  the  weaknesses  of  others,  to  triumph  over  ex- 
ternal difficulties,  we  are  at  the  same  time  enabled  to 
enjoy  the  victory,  by  bringing  our  own  passions,  our 


20 

own  heart,  into  perfect  subjection,  and  thus  we  may 
tread  with  confidence  the  long  and  bright  career  that 
now  for  the  first  time  is  opened  to  youthful  ambition, 
sustained  by  an  abiding  ever-present  assurance  that  we 
possess  the  means  within  ourselves,  if  we  but  employ 
them,  of  passing  safely  and  triumphantly  through  life. 

As  a  general  rule,  it  may  here  be  remarked,  that 
the  study  of  the  world  must  of  necessity  be  only  com- 
menced during  the  period  of  our  youth ;  that  perfection 
in  this  study  can  never  be  attained  in  this  life,  however 
great  our  progress  in  it  may  have  been,  and  that  the 
best  teacher  we  can  employ  for  the  purpose  is  experience. 
But  this  knowledge  of  human  nature,  as  possessed  by 
particular  individuals,  is  often  boyond  explanation,  and 
cannot  be  reduced  to  any  rules  or  system.  In  some  it 
seems  to  be  a  gift  of  nature,  which  is  not  strengthened 
by  after  study  or  experience.  Its  first  developments  in 
early  life  are  as  mature  as  they  are  in  riper  years.  In 
vindication  of  the  truth  of  these  remarks,  there  are  many 
instances  on  record  of  this  species  of  intuitive  knowledge 
of  human  character  to  wrhich  we  might  refer.  For 
instance,  the  best  anecdotes  of  the  sagacity  of  Cyrus 
are  those  of  his  boyhood.  Talleyrand's  childhood  was 
characterized  by  the  same  shrewdness  which  marked  his 
riper  years.  Congreve  had  written  his  comedies  at 
twenty-five.  Napoleon  was  master  of  the  human  heart 
long  before  he  had  attained  the  age  of  manhood.  The 
unsurpassed  poetry  of  Kirke  White,  which  discovered 
the  deepest  knowledge  of  human  motives,  was  the  fruit 
of  his  youth. 

Having  briefly,  and  I  fear  with  ill  success,  attempted 
to  enumerate  some  of  the  main  and  incidental  designs  of 
education,  I  might  with  propriety  at  this  point  conclude 
my  address  and  take  my  leave  of  you.     But.  to  those  who 


21 

have  already  terminated  their  collegiate  career,  and  to 
whom  my  previous  remarks  may  not  be  specially  appli- 
cable, I  must  be  permitted  to  make  a  few  additional 
observations  upon  this  most  important  and  interesting 
epoch  of  their  lives. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  present  is  a  period  peculiarly 
interesting  and  solemn  to  all  those  who  are  for  the  first 
time  about  to  enter  upon  the  scenes  of  life,  and  who  are 
possessed  of  reflective  and  well  organized  minds,  capable 
of  surveying  and  comprehending  the  great  objects  of 
human  existence.     It  is  an  elevated  spot  in  the  journey, 
from  which  you  can  look  back  upon  the  road   you  have 
passed  ;   and  forward,   and   indistinctly  discern  in  the 
hazy  future  the  roa  1  which  lies  before  you.     On  the 
one   hand    you    behold    bright   paths    and   fairy  fields, 
strewed  with  the  flowers  of  childhood's  days,  over  which 
you  have  just  passed,  but  which  you  shall  never  traverse 
again.     On  the  other  hand  you  behold  the  rugged  steeps 
which  are  before  you  in  your  future  career.     Oh  !  what 
revolutions  in  feelings,  in  motives,  in    purposes,  in  sym- 
pathies await  you  !     Now  you  are  gay  and  happy  ;  with 
bosoms  urimoistened  by  the  tears  of  sorrow,  unclouded 
by  misfortune.     But  in  a  few  years  more  how  will  it  be 
with  you  ?     Where  will  the  vicissitudes  of  life  have  led 
you  ?     To  honour,  to  disgrace,  or  to  sorrow  ?     If  friend- 
ship,  or   the  cause  of  literature,   in   after  years,  shall 
summon  you  once  more  to  meet  in  affectionate  commu- 
nion upon  this  hallowed  spot,  what  response  will  be 
made  to  the  call,  and  where  shall  you  be  found?     The 
voice  of  Fame  would  answer,  and  echoing  back  would 
direct  us  to  the  summit  of  distinction  and  power,  where 
many  of  you   would  be   in  the  full  exercise  of  those 
virtues  which  adorn  the  head  and  heart !     The  voice  of 
inexorable  Death  would  thunder  beneath  our  feet,  and 

2 


glory  in  the  number  and   richness  of  his  spoil !     Nor 
would  Misfortune  be  silent,  but  with  eyes  bedewed  with 
tears,  and  cheeks  furrowed  by  the  share  of  sorrow,  would 
number  many  in  her  weeping-  train.     But  rather  far  let 
Death  and  Misfortune  claim  you,  than  that  you  should 
be  numbered  on  the  catalogue  of  crime !     Before  you 
advance  far  upon  your  future  journey,  disappointment, 
sorrow,  bereavement,  care,  infirmity,  ill-health,  will  one 
by  one  unite  themselves  to  your  train,  and   as  insepara- 
ble companions  sorne  of  them   will   attend  you  through 
life  ;  and,  unless  banished  by   the  aid  of  religion  and 
philosophy,  will  certainly  surround  you,  and   add   new 
terrors  to  your  bed  of  death.     Has  Education  armed  you 
with  the  weapons  by  which  to  resist  and  finally  to  con- 
quer these  enemies  I     Are  your  head  and  your  heart 
well  stored  for  the  journey  upon  which  you  are  about  to 
enter?     Have  you  consented  to  receive  the  good  things 
which  your  Alma  Mater  is  always  ready  so  abundantly 
to  lavish  upon  her  sons  ? 

A  young  man  then  who  is  about  to  enter  upon  the 
troubled  sea  of  life,  richly  freighted  with  the  golden 
fruits  of  education,  is  transccndently  blessed.  But  let 
him  not  fall  into  the  error  of  a  false  reliance  upon  his 
honourable  and  noble  acquirements,  as  supposing  that 
in  these  are  to  be  found  a  safeguard  against  every  dan- 
ger, or  a  means  for  surmounting  every  difficulty.  It 
cannot  be  questioned  that  they  will  prove  the  most 
valuable  aid  that  human  ingenuity  could  devise,  in 
every  trial  or  difficulty;  but  that  they  will  be  an 
antidote  for  all  the  ills  of  life,  or  render  labour  of  mind 
or  body  unnecessary  or  unavailing  in  his  future  pursuits, 
is  not  for  one  moment  contended. 

The  first  and  by  far   the  most  important  step  which 
you  are  to  take  is  to  make  choice  of  a  pursuit  or  profes- 


23 


sion.  It  is  lamentable  that  this  step  is  often  taken 
without  due  consideration  of  the  true  character  of  the 
profession  you  may  have  selected,  or  your  intellectual  or 
physical  adaptation  for  pursuing  it  successfully.  This 
error  is  often  attended  by  the  saddest  consequences.  It 
dooms  many  to  obscurity  and  want  who  otherwise  might 
have  been  eminently  successful.  There  are  two  pre- 
vailing errors  upon  this  subject,  which  are  the  very 
opposite  of  each  other.  By  some  it  is  supposed  that  a 
brilliant  intellect  and  an  accomplished  education  have 
no  field  suited  to  them,  other  than  the  pursuit  of  one  of 
the  learned  professions  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  many 
believe,  that  distinction  in  these  professions  is  alike 
accessible  to  all,  and  that  no  previous  mental  cultivation 
is  specially  necessary  for  attaining  their  highest  positions. 
Law,  medicine,  and  divinity  have  been  termed  the 
learned  professions.  When  we  look  around  and  see  who 
compose  these  professions ;  when  we  observe  the  igno- 
rance, the  stupidity,  and  the  narrow-minded  prejudice, 
which  prevail  in  each  one  of  them,  we  must  admit  that 
it  is  a  great  perversion  of  terms  to  call  them  "  learned 
professions."  The  epithet,  learned,  as  applied  to  those 
professions,  had  its  origin  in  times  long  since  past,  when 
doubtless  there  was  some  fitness  in  its  application.  But 
now,  among  certain  classes,  no  peculiar  excellence  is 
necessary  to  make  a  lawyer,  a  physician,  or  a  clergyman. 
Many  gentlemen  of  the  li  learned"  professions  of  the 
present  day,  have  never  received  the  benefits  of  an  ordi- 
nary education,  are  neither  self-taught  (as  are  many  of 
our  greatest  men),  nor  trained  by  the  teachings  of  others. 
The  knowledge  which  they  arrogate  to  themselves  they 
claim  as  if  by  inspiration  from  Heaven.  Some  are  in 
:he  full  possession,  they  suppose,  of  all  the  elements  of 


24 

distinction  for  their  future  profession  from  their  birth, 
and  it  is  very  often  the  case  that  neither  time,  nor  their 
future  acquirements  tend,  in  the  slightest  degree,  to 
increase  their  claims  to  eminence.  Others,  finding 
themselves  unfit  for  other  pursuits,  or  too  indolent  to  live 
by  labour,  seek  a  refuge  for  imbecility,  idleness  and  igno- 
rance under  the  cloak  of  one  of  the  ''learned  professions." 
If  the  son  of  a  man  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life  evinces 
any  signs  of  genius  before  he  is  five  years  old ;  whether 
it  be  the  result  of  accident  or  not,  his  name  is  at  once 
enrolled  for  one  of  the  learned  professions,  and  the  labour, 
economy  and  self-denial  of  his  parents  are  from  that 
moment  dedicated  to  the  preparation  of  their  son  for  his 
entrance  upon  the  new  sphere  of  action.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  sons  of  all  men,  with  few  exceptions,  in  the 
higher  circles  of  life,  as  they  are  termed,  are,  long  be- 
fore they  are  born,  designated  for  the  same  honourable 
distinction ;  as  being  the  only  proper  pursuit  for  men 
in  their  exalted  position  in  society;  and  this  deter- 
mination is  afterwards  obstinately  persisted  in,  without 
any  reference  to  their  future  intellectual  developments. 
In  this  way  these  dignified  and  honourable  professions 
are  converted  into  a  sort  of  Alms  House,  for  the  reception 
of  the  blind,  halt,  and  pauper  intellects  of  our  country. 
When  we  reflect  how  delicate,  how  important,  how  vital 
are  the  interests,  whether  they  relate  to  time  or  eternity, 
which  are  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  men  who 
compose  these  professions,  and  how  inadequate  they 
often  are  to  discharge  the  high  and  sacred  duty,  we  are 
led  to  exclaim  in  bitterness,  that  such  a  condition  of 
things  should  not  exist.  The  choicest  intellect,  the 
purest  moral  character,  the  most  vigorous  constitution, 
united  with  the  highest  condition  of  culture  in  ea@h,  will 


25 

find  in  the  study  of  any  one  of  the  learned  professions 
a  field  amply  larg*  and  fertile  to  call  forth  the  best  efforts 
which  they  maybe  capable  of  invoking. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  that 
there  are  no  pursuits  in  life  worthy  of  the  high  calling 
of  a  scholar  and  a  student,  other  than  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. Of  necessity  but  a  small  portion  of  mankind 
can  find  profitable  employment  as  professional  men; 
and  it  certainly  could  never  have  been  the  design  of  the 
Great  Author  of  the  universe  that  nine-tenths  or  more 
of  the  human  family  should  be  endowed  with  intellec- 
tual faculties  for  no  other  purpose  than  that  they  should 
remain  forever  dormant,  or  discharge  functions  of  the 
brute.  I  am  aware  that  there  are  some  enemies  of 
human  rights,  who  assert  and  maintain  an  opposite 
doctrine,  and  who  advocate  the  slavery  and  debasement 
of  the  human  mind,  as  better  suited  to  the  labouring 
portion  of  society,  or  "the  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
of  water."  Thanks  be  to  the  Giver  of  all  good,  that  we 
live  in  a  country  in  whose  soil  such  doctrines  can 
never  find  root,  and  in  an  age  that  will  chill  and  blight 
the  budding  of  such  sentiments. 

The  mind  of  man  can  find  something  to  employ  it  in 
every  pursuit  of  life  however  humble  ;  and  every  occu- 
pation can  be  elevated  and  more  successfully  followed 
by  invoking  the  aid  of  the  mental  faculties.  What 
pursuit  affords  a  better  field  for  the  study  of  science,  and 
for  the  general  improvement  of  the  mind,  than  an  en- 
lightened system  of  agriculture  ?  Of  all  the  occupations 
which  can  employ  the  attention  of  man,  none  affords 
greater  facilities  for  the  development  of  the  noblest 
faculties  of  the  mind  and  heart  than  agriculture.  None 
is  so  free  from  temptations ;  none  more  honourable ;  none 
attended  with  more  happiness ;  none  better  adapted  to 

2* 


26 

the  cultivation  of  social  pleasures,  or  of  an  affection- 
ate and  reciprocal  interchange  of  sentiment  and  opinion  ; 
none  so  well  fitted  to  elevate  and  expand  our  ideas  of 
the  Deity,  or  to  promote  a  love  for,  and  an  obedience  to 
his  great  laws ! 

"  Give  mo,  indulgent  gods  !  with  mind  serene, 
And  guiltless  heart,  to  range  the  sylvan  scene  ; 
No  splendid  poverty,  no  smiling  care, 
No  well-bred  hate,  or  servile  grandeur  there; 
The  pleasing  objects  useful  thoughts  suggest, 
The  sense  is  ravish'd  and  the  soul  is  blest : 
On  eveiy  thorn  delightful  wisdom  glows, 
In  every  rill  a  sweet  instruction  flows." 

Yet  there  are  some  who  would  consign  this  ennobling 
pursuit  to  serfs  and  vassals,  and  close  up  this  bright 
avenue  which  leads  to  refinement  and  wisdom,  against 
all  but  the  most  degraded  of  our  species. 

Agriculture  and  civilization  have  through  all  time 
advanced  hand  in  hand,  and  have  ever  been  insepara- 
ble companions ;  and  when  the  former  is  suffered  by  a 
people  to  languish,  it  is  a  certain  indication  that  they 
are  in  danger  of  relapsing  into  a  state  of  barbarism,  and 
that  refinement,  science  and  literature,  and  all  the  arts 
of  peace,  have  attained  their  acme,  and  have  begun  and 
must  thenceforward  continue  to  recede.  The  condi- 
tions of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  at  present  attest  the 
truth  of  these  remarks,  and  they  are  equally  applicable 
to  the  nations  of  antiquity.  The  ancient  Romans  in 
the  days  of  their  glory  and  power  were  so  devoted  to 
agriculture  that  their  most  illustrious  commanders  were 
sometimes  called  from  the  plough.  Their  refined  and 
enlightened  senators  commonly  resided  in  the  country, 
and  cultivated  the  ground  with  their  own  hands  ;  and, 
among  all  classes  of  society,  to  be  a  good  husbandman 
was  accounted  the  highest  praise.  A  noble  Roman  was 
overwhelmed  with  tears  on  being  obliged  to  accept  the 


27 

consulship  because  it  would  deprive  him  for  one  year  of 
the  opportunity  of  cultivating  his  fields. 

Shakspeare,  with  as  much   truth  as  beauty,  says  in 
regard  to  a  rational  and  rural  solitude  : 

"Hath  not  old  custom  made  this  life  more  sweet 
Than  that  of  painted  pomp  ?     Are  not  these  woods 
More  free  from  peril  than  the  envious  court  ? 
And  this  our  life,  exemptfrom  public  haunt, 
Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks. 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

The  mechanic  arts,  every  one  of  them  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  are  governed  by  scientific  principles,  and 
cannot  be  successfully  pursued  without  a  certain  amount 
of  mental  cultivation.  No  limits  can  be  assigned  to  the 
improvements  which  might  be  made  in  every  art,  were 
the  lights  of  science  and  of  education  allowed  to  shine 
upon  them  ;  and  that  which  is  now  but  a  process  of  dull 
and  painful  imitation,  might,  by  the  application  of  a 
cultivated  mind,  become  a  pleasing  study,  which  would 
be  constantly  developing  some  new  principle  in  science, 
and  furnishing  fresh  food  for  the  mind  to  feed  upon. 
Hence  I  assume  the  position,  that  education  is  designed 
by  Providence  as  a  means  for  the  elevation  of  the  entire 
human  family,  or  of  as  many  as  can  attain  to  it,  and  that 
its  blessings  and  honours  are  not  to  be  confined  to  a  fa- 
voured few. 

In  this  country  the  road  to  station,  honour  and  fame 
is  alike  open  to  all,  and  although  it  may  appear  at  first 
inaccessible,  yet  every  obstacle  which  is  encountered, 
however  formidable,  must  yield  to  the  power  of  an 
educated  mind,  when  united  with  industry  and  perse- 
verance. All  the  high  places  in  our  land  may  seem  to 
be  filled,  and  their  honours  to  be  appropriated;  thousands 
of  anxious  expectants  may  be  before  you  crowding 
every  avenue  which  leads  to  distinction  and  power ;  but 


28 

let  not  honourable  ambition  falter  in  her  efforts,  nor 
talents  and  virtue  be  dismayed.  Keep  before  you  the 
result  of  the  contest  which  iEneas  invited  among  the 
Trojan  marksmen,  which  Virgil  has  made  you  familiar 
with,  and  which  so  aptly  illustrates  the  value  of  perse- 
verance and  resoluteness.  A  dove  was  suspended  to 
the  mast  of  a  ship,  at  which  the  competitors  for  the  prize 
were  to  direct  their  arrows.  The  son  of  Hyrtacus  first 
wins  applause  by  planting  his  arrow  in  the  trembling 
mast,  near  the  affrighted  bird.  Mnestheus  next  tries 
his  skill,  and  with  well  directed  aim  severs  the  cord, 
and  the  liberated  dove  penetrates  the  clouds  above. 
Not  daunted,  Eurytion,  in  eager  haste,  lets  fly  his  arrow, 
as  he  beholds  the  joyful  dove  in  the  open  sky,  and 
piercing  her,  brings  her  to  the  earth,  "  having  left  her 
life,"  as  Virgil  beautifully  expresses  it,  "among  the 
stars  of  Heaven."  Acestes  alone  remained  after  the 
prize  was  supposed  to  be  lost ;  but  instead  of  yielding 
the  contest,  or  giving  way  to  disappointment  or  mortifi- 
cation, with  a  manner  of  confident  superiority  he  dis- 
charged his  shaft  into  the  heavens,  wkich  took  fire,  and 
with  a  flame,  marked  its  path,  till  being  consumed  it  was 
lost  in  air.  The  spectators  were  filled  with  astonish- 
ment, and  TEneas,  appreciating  the  omen,  embraces 
Acestes,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  applauding  multi- 
tude thus  awards  him  the  prize  : 

Nam  te  voluit  Rex  magnus  Olympi 


Talibus  auspiciis  exsortem  ducere  honorem. 

And  you,  my  young  friends,  when  you  terminate 
your  sojourn  here,  are  to  go  into  the  world  as  apostles, 
if  not  to  preach  the  gospel,  to  fulfil  a  duty  which  in 
importance  is  only  second  to  it,  namely,  to  shed  upon 
your  fellow  men  the  blessed  influences  of  an  educated 
and  enlightened  mind. 


29 

Independently  of  the  immediate  and  direct  advan- 
tages of  education,  its  incidental  benefits  to  an  American 
citizen  are  of  the  deepest  importance.  Every  man  in 
every  walk  in  life  in  a  republican  government  like  ours, 
ought,  if  possible,  to  have  the  benefits  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, to  aid  him  as  a  weapon  of  defence,  in  maintaining 
the  institutions  and  liberties  of  his  country.  It  is  the 
corner  stone  of  our  republican  edifice  that  the  people  are 
the  source  of  all  power  in  our  land.  From  them  flow  the 
liberty,  the  virtue,  the  honour,  the  law,  the  power,  which 
so  elevate  us  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  us 
then  by  education  keep  that  fountain  pure  and  perpetual, 
that  streams  may  flow  therefrom  blessing  and  elevating 
the  whole  race  of  mankind.  When  that  source  becomes 
polluted  or  obstructed,  then  will  our  Tree  of  Liberty, 
which  has  so  long  been  nourished  and  sustained  by  its 
waters,  languish  and  die.  Lie  that  would  deny  that 
education  in  this  country  with  its  exhaustless  fruits  is 
a  national  right,  in  which  all  our  people  have  a  common 
interest,  would  question  the  very  principles  upon  which 
the  government  itself  stands.  The  principles  of  our 
government  are  as  plain  and  simple  as  they  are  beauti- 
ful and  wise,  and  a  knowledge  of  them  is  accessible  to 
almost  every  citizen.  There  are  those  however  who 
seek  to  veil  these  beautiful  features  in  mystery,  and  rob 
them  of  their  original  simplicity,  by  engrafting  upon 
them  features  that  are  foreign  and  hostile  to  their  nature. 
Our  system  of  government  is  rather  a  negative  than  a 
positive  system.  It  is  a  government  of  protection,  not 
of  privilege  ;  one  established  to  guard  rights,  rather  than 
to  bestow  them.  It  is  one  of  the  high  prerogatives  of 
education  in  our  republican  country  to  guard  against 
the  inroads  which  are  daily  threatened,  upon  this  har- 
mony and  simplicity  in  our  institutions ;  to  keep  the 


government  in  its  proper  and  legitimate  channel,  to  see 
that  the  rights  of  the  governed  are  protected,  and 
that  privileges  are  extended  unjustly  to  none;  to  see  that 
the  constitution,  the  Magna  Charta  of  our  liberties,  is 
preserved  in  all  its  original  purity ;  to  prevent  the 
introduction  of  cunningly  devised  schemes,  by  which 
one  class  of  our  community  is  to  be  advanced  or  enriched 
at  the  expense  of  another ;  guard  and  prevent  the 
government  from  so  far  leaving  its  proper  sphere  of 
action  as  to  attempt  to  diiect,  or  in  any  way  to  interfere 
with  the  industry  or  private  pursuits  of  the  country;  so 
that  all  its  -powers  and  ciiermes  mav  be  directed  to  the 
protection  of  the  liberty,  the  laws,  and  the  property  of  its 
people. 

Yes,  my  young  friends,  such  are  some  of  the  delicate 
and  momentous  interests  which  are  committed  to  the 
keeping  of  the  educated  youth  of  our  land.  In  your 
hands,  not  as  politicians  and  partizans,  but  as  citizens 
and  voters,  is  this  sacred  trust  reposed;  to  3*011  are 
entrusted  the  principles  of  our  government  and  the 
rights  of  the  people  :  and  the  high  and  responsible  duty 
will  be  discharged  with  entire  success  if  education  has 
but  performed  its  functions  upon  your  youthful  heads 
and  hearts. 

The  duties  and  designs  of  education  are  as  varied  and 
as  complex  as  they  are  honourable  and  ennobling.  It 
should  be  present  and  minister  on  every  occasion,  in 
every  scene,  and  in  every  enterprise  having  in  view  the 
elevation  of  human  nature  or  the  promotion  of  happiness. 
It  fosters  virtue,  it  develops  science,  it  expands  the  heart, 
it  elevates  our  ideas  of  God  and  draws  us  nearer  to  him, 
it  benefits  our  fellow  men,  it  destroys  the  reigning 
prejudices  and  corrects  the  prevailing  errors  of  our  age 
and  country ;  in  short  it  is  a  fountain  of  blessed  inrlu- 


31 

ences  which  flows  directly  from  the  mercy  seal  of  the 
Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  And,  in  takim 
my  leave  of  you,  perhaps  forever,  what  happiness 
should  I  experience,  could  I  but  know  that  I  had  suc- 
ceeded in  awakening  your  hearts  to  a  proper  appre- 
ciation of  this  momentous  subject,  in  guarding  you 
against  the  fatal  error  of  supposing  that,  at  this  period  of 
your  life,  you  might  discontinue  the  noble  work  you 
have  commenced,  or  of  falling  into  an  ignoble  and 
degrading  mental  inactivity,  by  which  the  budding  fruits 
of  your  early  labours  must  wither  and  die,  long  before 
the  season  for  their  ripening  has  arrived. 


Oll^lb 


w 


05-12-05  32180     MS 


LB2325.L77 

Obituary  addresses  delivered  on  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


]      1    1012  00085  2162 


